New Drivers Act / Driving Licence Revocation

The Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995 applies to every motorist who passed their first full test after 1 June 1997.

The main effect of the Act is to impose a probationary period for the first 2 years after the test is passed.
During this time, a new driver will be subject to immediate revocation of their licence, should they reach 6 or more penalty points.
This is an automatic process which is triggered should any offence be committed in the first 2 years lead to a total of 6 points being endorsed on the licence.
In theory, a new driver would therefore be given one chance by way of a Fixed Penalty but if two Fixed Penalties were accepted, or a more serious offence resulted in 6 points, the licence would be revoked.

It is important to note that points carried over from a provisional driving licence are still taken into account so any driver who transfers points from a provisional to a full licence would be revoked if any further offence were committed.

Likewise, it is the date of the offence that is relevant, not the date of conviction. Revocation will still take place even if the two year probation period has elapsed before points are then imposed for an offence that occurred within the first 24 months.

Revocation of a driving licence has an immediate effect once 6 points are reached.
The licence remains revoked indefinitely and will not be reinstated until an application is made.
Upon application, a provisional licence will be reissued (endorsed with the points) and the driver will be subject to the terms of a provisional licence.
If and when both the theory and practical driving tests are passed, a full licence will be reissued but the points will remain valid until their third anniversary.

Yes. The process is automatic and neither the Police, the DVLA or the Court have any discretion.
If you accept a Fixed Penalty Notice which results in 6 points being reached within your first 2 years of driving, your licence will be revoked without any prior warning or a Court appearance.

There is no obligation on the part of the authorities to warn you of the process or the fact that you face revocation.
It is assumed that you will be familiar with the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995.

Yes. Whilst revocation is automatic if you reach 6 points, if you can prevent points being endorsed, you can avoid revocation.
Consequently, for some offences it may be more practical to obtain a short period of disqualification by way of a punishment instead of penalty points.
Although to achieve this, you will have to attend Court, if you can convince the Court to impose a punishment that avoids penalty points, you will avoid revocation.

It is important to understand that whilst the Court has no discretion on whether revocation is imposed should you reach 6 points, it does have discretion on the punishment imposed and therefore, avoiding points will avoid revocation.
This will require technical knowledge of the law so you should seek legal advice if you chose to go to Court.

There is no appeal process via the DVLA so if you have accepted fixed penalties, you have little option but to apply to retake a driving test.
If revocation has followed a Court hearing, you can appeal that decision to a higher Court.
You have 21 days in which to lodge an appeal and the revocation will be suspended pending the outcome of the appeal hearing, as long as you lodge a copy of the appeal with the DVLA.

In the normal course of events the DVLA would write to you giving you 5 days notice of revocation.
If you have not received such a letter, it is quite feasible that it has simply got lost in the post and revocation has been imposed without your knowledge.
You should check with the DVLA to establish the status of your licence.
If it has been revoked and you continue to drive, you not only commit the offence of driving otherwise than in accordance with your licence, but this would also invalidate your insurance which would lead to a further prosecution.

No. The points remain valid for 3 years from the date of conviction but you are not subject to any further probationary period or terms as a new driver.
If you reach 12 points within any 3 year period, you would be subject to a totting up disqualification, as would any other driver.

No. You would not normally have to re–sit your test unless this was a specific term of the penalty imposed by the Court.
In the normal course of events, you would simply serve the disqualification period and your licence would then be reinstated.
For a ban in excess of 56 days, you would have to formally apply for your licence to be reinstated but this does not require you to take any further test.

Although the points on your provisional licence will remain valid until they expire on their third anniversary and thus would be transferred to your full licence, they would not prevent you from taking your driving test. If you pass, a full licence will be issued with the existing endorsements detailed. Whilst they remain valid, any further offence within your probation period would result in revocation if it is punished by penalty points.

As this is the first full UK test you have ever taken, if you pass, you will be subject to the New Drivers Act.
This means that if you then reach 6 points in the next 2 years, whether it be in the car or on a bike, your UK licence will be revoked.